We use cookies on our website to provide you with the best experience. Most of these are essential and already present.
We do require your explicit consent to save your cart and browsing history between visits. Read about cookies we use here.
Your cart and preferences will not be saved if you leave the site.
play
Out of stock

Sun Ra Arkestra

Universe In Blue (LP)

Label: Cosmic Myth Records

Format: LP

Genre: Jazz

Out of stock

Universe in Blue is a rarity. After-hours music, showcasing Sun Ra's twisted take on the Blues, these live recordings from 1972 provide an intriguing glimpse of the Arkestra’s repertoire and virtuosity at the close of their first decade playing in New York, and brought him to the greater attention of the New York press and helped cement his reputation for audacious showmanship. Ra and his band performed at the famed East Village Slug's almost every Monday night for several years through the late sixties, and took the stage sporadically for several years thereafter.

Based on a number of accounts, the Slugs shows typically started around 9:00 pm and could blaze on with or without breaks until 4:00 am. The personnel fluctuated, depending on who showed up, who was hanging around and could handle an instrument, and the bandleader's divinations. These evenings were raw, unpredictable, and calamitous, and not without artistic controversy. They brought Sun Ra greater attention from the New York press and helped cement his reputation for audacious showmanship. 

This collection of undated live club performances was issued in small-run pressings with two different LP covers on Sun Ra's Saturn label around 1972, but has largely escaped further notice. It's never been available on CD, and only a previous unofficial LP reissue was available prior to this edition. 

Details
Cat. number: CMR006
Year: 2022
Notes:
Recorded at Slugs in the East, New York 1971-72